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Top 10 money saving tips for students

Thursday, 20 September 2018

We already promise the cheapest prices on the market with our Price Match Guarantee, and now we can save you even more.

Feel Good Contacts is happy to announce we’ve partnered up with Student Beans to give our student customers 5% off of all future orders for the duration of their studies. Simply visit our student discount page to register and get your exclusive discount code. University can be one of the most exciting and adventurous periods of a person’s life. It’s also a time in which most people find themselves pinching the pennies and having to carefully budget and handle money by themselves, without the aid of their parents.

We’ve complied a small list of ways you can save money while living as a student. So, after you’ve signed up for discounts on your contact lenses and designer sunnies, follow these handy tips to save even more.

A greater understanding of your income and expenditures will help you monitor your money. We recommend the mobile budgeting app Fudget. Available for both IOS and Android devices, it contains a visual tool that allows you to view your expenditures in segments, as well as the option to export your budget onto a CSV file. Once you’ve downloaded your budgeting tool, start updating it after every single purchase. Seeing your monthly income come down each time you buy something might make you more conscious of how you’re spending your money.

Cut take-out coffee

Not buying take-out coffee can save you a small fortune. Let’s do the math shall we?

£2.50 (one coffee a day) x 5 coffees a week = £12.50

£12.50 x 4 weeks = £50

£50 x 12 months = £600 a year!!!

£600 = at least two party trips to Europe during the summer months.

#JustSayNoToCosta

As well as saving money, you’ll also be taking on a healthy habit as too much caffeine is not good for you. If you can’t let go of your favourite cup of latte, buy instant coffee or coffee sachets that you can pop in your bag. Most cafeterias/common rooms will have a hot water dispenser and you can make your own brew.

Enter competitions

Professional comper is now a part-time occupation for some. There are entire online groups and threads dedicated to posting new competitions daily. Have a scan through and enter a couple a week. #FreebieFriday and #WinItWednesday are popular hashtags on Twitter that both offer up a weekly dose of easy to enter contests. Feel Good Contacts hosts a regular competitions almost every week on out Twitter feed @feelgoodcontact.

Set savings goals

Instead of looking at saving as some sort of personal punishment, why not make a game out of it. Challenge yourself to see how much you can save and pinch the pennies tighter every month. Set yourself a saving goal and be determined to set aside that money each month. Even if it’s just £10 a month, by the end of the year, that will be £120.

Saving is more than just about putting money away for a rainy day, it’s about developing a positive habit and a sense of self control over your spending. Look for frugal living or minimalist lifestyle groups and blogs online to inspire you.

Learn to cook

Cooking from scratch is much cheaper than buying ready meals or takeaways. Meal planning is a good way of ensuring you’re eating a healthy diet, and limits your food wastage as you tend to only buy what you will cook. It’s estimated that the average British home wastes around £470 of food a year, for a national total of £13 billion [1]. That’s not only a huge waste of food and money, it’s also a personal shame considering how many people around the world go without food, as well as the environmental impact of food production.

Buy quality, not quantity

Focus on buying fewer items that are higher quality, and will last for a longer time, rather than buying multiple items that are lower quality and have a shorter usage life. For example, why buy 20 pairs of cheap sunnies that are designed to fit the current trends, when you can purchase a few classic shades from our extensive designer range that will never go out of style or break easily?

Learn to say no

Your student days will be packed with endless activities. Mid-week parties, Friday nights you’d rather forget and adventurous weekend getaways. All lovely, of course, expect for the fact that they can put a strain on your wallet. Know when to say no to certain outings, particularly things you haven’t already budgeted for. Time with yourself is just as important, so use the moments when you don’t go out with your friends to detox. You’re not ‘missing in action’, you’re giving yourself some ‘me’ time.

Find things to do for free

There are plenty of activities that you can do for free. Look at tourist-centered sites to find museums, exhibitions, events and festivals. A great resource for finding hidden treasures is Atlas Obscura, which lists quirky and unusual places to visit.

Cut down on bad habits

Bad habits such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are not only detrimental to your health, but also your pocket. Unbeknown to some, you can receive smoking cessation services from your GP. There is also an NHS backed platform called Smoke Free, which drastically increases your chances of quitting, even if you’re already using e-cigarettes or stop smoking medication. Many smokers also swear by Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Stop Smoking.

Binge drinking on occasion may be a social acceptable by today’s standards, but it doesn’t minimise the real dangers of over consuming alcohol which include liver disease, heart disease and brain damage.

Purchase second-hand goods

When you’re looking to buy something, consider if and where you can get it for cheaper and don’t shy away from second hand items. There’s nothing wrong with buying used goods. In fact, you’re helping the Earth by keeping unwanted item out of landfills. Here are a few great places you can purchased used goods:

- Local charity shops

- Websites like Ebay, Depop, Gumtree, Amazon and Shpock

- Bric-a-brac/car boot sales

You can also item swap with others and upcycle old items.

Cancel unused subscriptions

Think twice before you sign up to subscriptions and reconsider any you’re currently paying for. Gym memberships are often the biggest culprits. Look out for free open air green gyms during the summer, purchase equipment you can use in your home/dorm during the winter and go on runs in your local park. Mobile phone apps and entertainment packages such as Amazon Prime and Netflix should also be monitored. Consider if you’re actually using them to their full worth, and if not, cancel.

And a few other things…

Always ask if there is a student discount before buying anything.

Shop during the sales.

Buy value brands.

Borrow books from the library ( just make sure to take your books back on time so you don’t incur late charges)

We hope that these tips help you get through your student days.

You may be asking: “What about when I’ve finished my studies and have to start making those pesky student loan repayments?” No worries, Feel Good Contacts can promise that we’ll still be the cheapest retailer of contact lenses and designer sunglasses on the market.